Last Year's Story
by Anna Marchen
Summary: "I don't know what to do, Will." When Will Solace, a doctor in training, finds Nico di Angelo unconscious in a hospital bed, he knows there's a lot of explaining to be done. Helping his friends is all he ever tries to do, but what happens when it comes to family, and love? Solangelo, AU.
1. Chapter 1

_If you recognise it, it's not mine._

* * *

Will yawned as he walked down the corridor. It was almost three in the morning, and he was exhausted. His shift didn't end for another hour, but he knew that if he went and grabbed a coffee, he'd be awake until six in the morning, and that wouldn't help anything.

"Hey, Rachel," he said, pausing at the information desk. Rachel glanced up from her computer, looking about a billion times more alert than he felt.

"Morning, Will. Anything I can do for you?"

"I was just wondering if there were any cases I could take. It's getting quieter and if I take a break I think I'd probably just fall asleep, so I figured I could... I don't know, check up on someone?"

Rachel shook her head at him, curly hair bouncing on her shoulders. "You work too hard, Will," she said as she pulled up something on her computer.

Will spotted at least three empty coffee cups in the bin beside the desk as he waited. A couple of minutes later, Rachel nodded and tapped the screen. "Okay, there's a teenage boy, maybe a year younger than you, in room two-three-eight. He was brought in about an hour ago with a mild case of pneumonia; a janitor found him collapsed outside the doors. As far as I know, he's been unconscious since, but if he's awake it would be great if you could get some contact details and stuff out of him." She handed over a couple of forms for him to fill in.

"Thanks, Rachel," Will said, heading over to the lift.

He paused before opening the door, peering through the glass window. The boy was the only occupant in the room. Will could see a shock of messy hair, dark against the pale pastel of the sheets. He frowned; there was something familiar about the boy, even though he couldn't see his face. Will pushed the door open and crossed to the bed.

And stopped, the papers falling from his hands like a handful of loose leaves.

The boy's face, while it was a greyish shade of pale and almost skeletally gaunt, purple-blue shadows under his eyes and a stark red graze running along his cheekbone, was undoubtedly the face of Nico di Angelo.

Will sank into the chair neatly tucked in beside the bed, rubbing his eyes in disbelief. Nico was over a year younger than him, so when Will had graduated from university last year, along with a lot of their other friends, they'd not kept in touch as much as they could have. Will had assumed that Nico was busy, studying for a degree in history and archaeology.

But now Nico was lying in a hospital bed, looking like he hadn't eaten or slept in weeks.

Will stood up again and picked up the medical chart hanging on the end of the bed. He flipped through it quickly, finding out that as well as pneumonia, Nico had a broken wrist, the cast hidden by the blankets. Will sighed, and pulled out his phone, tapping a number out quickly. It rang several times before it was picked up.

_"Hello?"_ a sleepy sounding voice said.

Will winced; he'd completely forgotten it was past three AM. "Um, hey, Percy."

_"Will? Why're you calling in the middle of the night? Something wrong?"_

"Yeah, sort of. Percy, when did you last hear from Nico?"

At the sound of Nico's name, Percy seemed to wake up suddenly. _"Nico? About... what, two months ago? He sent me a birthday card. Why? Did something happen?"_

Will sighed again. "He's in the hospital. With pneumonia and a broken wrist."

Percy was completely silent for a minute. There was rustling, and a slight jingling of car keys, and then,_ "I'm coming over."_

"No, don't bother. Visiting hours aren't until nine-thirty, and Annabeth'll kill you if you run off in the middle of the night."

_"Why're you there, then?"_

Will had to bite his tongue to stop himself from sighing again. Apparently Percy wasn't as awake as he sounded. "I'm a doctor, remember, Percy? Or in training, at least."

_"Oh. Right. Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow then?"_

"Yeah, okay." Will hung up and felt in his pocket for a pen. He cursed as he realised that he'd left it in another room several hours ago. Then he glanced at the small table, on which Nico's few belongings he must have had on him were left. Amongst a pile of coins, a crumpled bus pass and a phone with a badly cracked screen, was a pencil, worn down to a stump. Will picked it up, turning it over in his hands. At the very end, he could just make out a faded gold 'O'. He recognised the pencil; last Christmas, Annabeth had given them all a set of pencils with their names on.

Will filled in the forms quickly enough, but hesitated when he got to the emergency contacts section. Generally, it would be Nico's father who should be filled in, but Will knew that their relationship had been strained, to say the least, ever since the death of Nico's mother and sister when he was a child. Will had seen patients who lived on the street before, and he couldn't ignore the fact that Nico would fit in with them. Decisively, he filled in the first spot with his own name and details, and left the other one blank. Nico showed no signs of waking up anytime soon, so Will tore a page out of the notebook he carried with him and left a note on the bedside table.

_Nico, I work here now, get them to call me as soon as you wake up. -Will_

He handed in the forms to Rachel with a quick explanation of the situation.

Rachel sighed sympathetically. "I'll make sure you're contacted as soon as he wakes up, okay?"

"That would be great, thanks, Rachel."

Will leant against the wall beside the desk, closing his eyes for a moment. Rachel prodded him in the arm. "Go home, Solace. You're falling asleep standing up again."

"Maybe, yeah." A stern glare and a shooing motion from Rachel sent him away to his locker, where he changed out of his scrubs and started to walk home in the chilly October night. Even then, his thoughts drifted to Nico, lying unconscious in a hospital bed, looking as if he'd been living rough for the past few weeks. Will shook his head as he reached his apartment. It was too early in the morning to try and think of a solution just now. He fell asleep almost as soon as his head touched the pillow.

It seemed only moments later that he was woken by his phone vibrating insistently beside his bed. "Will Solace," he said drowsily, sitting up. A glance at the clock told him it was just past eight in the morning.

_"Will, it's Rachel. He's awake."_

Will was bolting for the shower before she hung up.


	2. Chapter 2

_If you recognise it, it's not mine._

* * *

Will skidded to a halt outside the room. He could see Nico sitting up in the bed, talking to another doctor, but his eyes were darting around frantically, and the hand which wasn't in a cast was tapping against the bed in a twitchy, nervous way. Will took a moment to calm himself before stepping into the room. The other doctor, a friend of Will's named Lee, glanced up as the door opened, and then nodded, pointing to the note with a smile. Nico's eyes widened.

"Will?" he whispered, in a hoarse, quiet voice Will could barely link with the boy he'd known last year.

"Hey, Nico."

"What... what are you doing here?" Nico looked completely confused, eyes huge in his pale, gaunt face.

"I could ask you the same question," Will replied, sitting on the edge of the bed gently. Nico's fingers twitched, and Will wrapped both of his hands around the smaller boy's. Nico's skin was cold, and Will could feel every bone in his hand.

"We've given you some antibiotics, which seem to be working, and we put a cast on your wrist, as you've noticed," Lee said kindly. "If the antibiotics keep working properly, you should be okay to leave later today, that is, if you've got somewhere to go?" Lee exchanged a glance with Will, and Will shrugged slightly, squeezing Nico's hand. Lee was a good guy, and he'd been working at the hospital a lot longer than Will. He could tell that something wasn't right with Nico even without knowing him personally.

"I..." Nico started to speak, but trailed off in a shuddering sigh. "My-"

Will looked at him carefully, noting the tears beginning to form in the corners of his eyes. "It's okay, Nico. You don't have to explain just yet." He pulled his friend into a loose hug, letting the dark head rest against his shoulder. Nico's breath was coming in little gasps as he tried to hold back sobs, and Will sent Lee a look. Lee nodded understandingly and backed away towards the door.

"I'll get them to send up some breakfast," he said softly. "For you too, Will. How much sleep did you get, three, four hours?" He closed the door before Will could say anything, leaving him alone with Nico.

"Okay, Nico. I think Percy's coming when visiting hours start, so that's in about an hour or something."

Nico nodded miserably, but didn't say anything.

"You're going to have to tell somebody what's going on at some point, you know? You can tell me, or Percy, or Jason, or maybe one of the girls, and then we'll get everything sorted out."

Just then, Will's phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out to see a text from Jason on the screen.

_Percy just told me Nico's in the hospital, when can I come? -J_

Nico peered over his shoulder as he replied, reading the text with a frown. He pulled away from Will, huddling up on the bed. Before Will could say anything, a nurse came in with a tray of breakfast, flashing Will a sympathetic smile as she set it down on the table.

Nico stared at the tray as if he hadn't seen food in weeks. It wasn't anything special, just toast and fruit juice. Slowly, his hand reached out and tore a corner off a piece of toast, tentatively putting it in his mouth.

"It won't bite, you know," Will said. "This place actually does pretty good food, for a hospital."

Nico swallowed and picked up the rest of the slice. He tore into it with his teeth, barely chewing before swallowing. Will placed a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe slow down a little?" The dark-haired boy barely seemed to hear him, coughing as a mouthful stuck in his throat. Will patted him on the back, frowning as he felt the boy's spine like a shard of glass. "Nico, when was the last time you ate?"

Nico shrugged, still trying to catch his breath. "A while," he muttered.

Will kept a hand on his back, rubbing soothing circles as Nico reached for a paper cup of juice. His hands trembled, and Will picked up the cup before it could spill, holding it to Nico's lips and tilting it. Nico took a few sips before batting his hand away. He slumped against the pillows, a little sigh escaping him. Will moved to the seat beside the bed, fixing him with a firm look.

"So, are you going to tell me what's going on?" he asked, meeting Nico's eyes.

Nico sighed again, fingers tapping restlessly against the bedsheets. "It's a long story," he murmured, in that cracked whisper Will still couldn't get used to.

"We've got three quarters of an hour before the others arrive," Will pointed out.

Nico nodded, and then, taking a deep breath as if he was steeling himself, he blurted, "My stepmother kicked me out."

Will nearly fell out of his chair. "Wait, what?" he demanded. "You have a stepmother? And she kicked you out?" As far as Will had known, it was just Nico and his dad.

"Yeah. Persephone. My dad started... started seeing her sometime last year. She was okay, at first, but after they got married she just... changed, completely."

Will frowned. "Why didn't you tell someone?"

"You guys all had your exams, you were busy."

"But not too busy to help you, Nico!" At his raised voice, Nico flinched, and Will immediately leant forward, trying to calm down. "Sorry. Keep going."

Nico took another shuddering breath and kept talking. "It was like... if I was talking to Dad, she'd come in and interrupt. She'd tidy away my stuff and not tell me where she put it. It was like I was some sort of weed she was trying to get rid of."

"Oh, Nico," Will said, a feeling of guilt in the pit of his stomach. "I don't get why you couldn't tell us, after exams, though?"

Nico suddenly looked unbearably sad, and Will reached out to put a hand on his arm. "She... she forbade me from seeing any of you, or texting or anything. She even deleted all the contacts in my phone." He sniffed. "And then Dad went away on this business trip and she wouldn't even let me out of the house."

Almost unconsciously, he rubbed his arm, and alarm bells went off in Will's head. "Nico... did she hurt you?"

Nico looked like he wanted to bury his face in his hands and run away, but he managed to meet Will's eyes again. "Not exactly."

"Nico." Something in Will's tone had changed. He was a doctor, and people getting hurt was what he tried to prevent. "Tell me what she did."

Nico stared down at the bedsheets. "She'd fill a sink or something with boiling water, and force me to put my arms in it, up to the elbow. If I refused, she'd push my head in. Other stuff, too, but mostly... mostly that." Nico's voice trembled, breath coming in shuddering gasps. He coughed weakly, a wheezing, choked sound.

For a moment, Will gaped in horror, then his instincts as a friend and a doctor kicked in and he sat back on the edge of the bed, pulling Nico into his arms. The younger boy stiffened for an instant before relaxing. Will could feel his thin chest heaving as he gasped for air, and he gripped Nico's shoulders firmly, turning to face him.

"Nico, you need to calm down, okay? I get that you're scared and you don't feel great, but you have to calm down. Focus on me, alright?"

He breathed in exaggeratedly, held it for a few seconds, and exhaled. Nico copied him, much to Will's relief; a panic attack was really not what the other boy needed right now.

"We're going to get this sorted out," he promised firmly, stroking Nico's hair in a comforting gesture.

"I don't know what to do, Will," Nico whispered back, huddling against Will's side.

Will didn't let go, because there's a time to be a doctor and a time to be a friend, and he knew which one this was.


	3. Chapter 3

_If you recognise it, it's not mine._

* * *

Percy, Jason, Annabeth and Piper arrived ten minutes before visiting hours started.

Nico looked up to see four of his best friends in the doorway, holding flowers and a little teddy from the gift shop, and started to cry. Inaudible sobs shook his frame as tears soaked into the bedsheets. He was instantly surrounded by people, and even though it had been months since he'd last seen any of them, they were just so familiar that he let them fuss over him as if he was a little kid.

While Annabeth peered at the graze on his cheek and Piper linked her arm through his, frowning at how skinny he was, Jason practically pushed Will off the bed so he could sit directly behind Nico, letting the smaller boy lean against him.

"Will, what happened to him?" Percy muttered, standing at Will's shoulder with a frown. Out of the corner of his mouth, Will gave him a condensed version of what Nico had told him. Percy looked ready to kill someone, hands clenched into fists. "How didn't we notice?" he asked, more as if he was talking to himself than to Will. "How the hell didn't we notice?"

He crossed over to Nico, talking to him with a smile forced onto his face. Will barely noticed him go. He was thinking, casting his thoughts back to the last time he'd seen Nico act anything like this.

_It had been just after the exams had all finished, when they were all having a big party to celebrate. Nearly all of them had been nominated to do the Ice Bucket Challenge, and Percy kept whining at them to stop putting it off, so they collected as many buckets as possible and stood in a long line. Percy tipped the first bucket over Jason, and even as the blonde boy spluttered, he picked up his own bucket and tipped it over Piper. It carried on down the line until Leo tossed his over Nico with a whoop. It was several long seconds before Will turned round to see Nico standing completely still, eyes shut as if he was waiting for something. He tapped him on the shoulder. "Nico?" _

_Nico had stiffened for a moment, glanced around, and then hurriedly reached for his bucket and threw it over Will. The cold water caught him full in the face, and spluttering and choking, he barely managed to tip the next bucket over Frank without dropping it. _

_Later he'd found Nico sitting by himself on a bench while the others laughed around the huge bonfire they'd built in Percy's back garden. "Are you okay?"_

_"Yeah," he'd said, eyes dark and sad, "I'm fine. Just thinking."_

_"What about?" Will asked, sitting down beside him. _

_"Just..." Nico hesitated. "You're all going to be gone next year."_

_"We can still hang out, though. Look at it this way, you'll have all of us to help you study for your exams." _

_Nico cracked a smile. "Leo, help me study? He'd probably just sit there eating Fonzies."_

_Will laughed, standing up and offering Nico a hand up. "See, you're going to be fine. Now come on, I think they're about to start Spin the Bottle, and believe me, Frank is hilarious in this game."_

Will felt like punching a wall or something. Looking back on it, it seemed so obvious that something was up with Nico. There was a sinking feeling in his stomach as he looked back to the group on the bed. Nico had stopped crying, but he was slumped against Jason's chest as if the older boy was a pillow, and his eyelids were drooping even as he smiled weakly at a joke Percy made. Will was pretty sure that if he had a stethoscope, he'd be able to hear the wheeze in his breath.

Before he could say anything, Annabeth tapped Nico on the shoulder gently. "Are you getting tired, Nico? We should probably go soon anyway, work and stuff." Percy opened his mouth, but Piper elbowed him in the ribs.

Nico nodded, shuffling away so that Jason could stand up. "Good to see you, dude," the blonde boy said.

"We'll come back another day, okay?" Piper added, gently brushing his hair off his forehead.

Annabeth hugged him tightly, dropping a kiss on his cheek as she stood back. "Seriously, if you need us, just call, okay?" Percy said firmly, patting him on the back as he coughed.

Nico nodded, but as soon as the door closed behind them, he sighed tiredly and lay down. Will glanced at the clock. "I have to go soon, but you need to rest, okay? Pneumonia can be rough."

Nico nodded, eyes already closing. "Thanks, Will," he mumbled drowsily.

Will hesitated, one hand on the door. "We'll talk later," he promised. There was still a lot Nico hadn't explained to him, and Will had a feeling he wouldn't like it when he did.

* * *

He managed to switch shifts around so that he finished just after six in the evening, and changed out of his scrubs and headed up to Nico's room. Lee was in there again, and Will waved as he walked in. Nico's hair was mussed up, and Will guessed that he'd only just woken up.

"I was just saying that we could discharge Nico now. The antibiotics are working well, so if he took some medicine home and came in for checkups, he should be fine in a couple of weeks," Lee said quietly. "But there seems to be some problems about where he's going."

Will nodded. "I know." He frowned, thinking it over in his mind.

"I'm not going back there," Nico said quickly, glancing up at Will. "I can't."

Lee shot Will a questioning glance, and Will nodded, sitting on the bed next to Nico. He automatically put an arm around the younger boy's thin shoulders. "You can come stay with me," he said slowly.

Lee raised an eyebrow. Nico stared at him. "Are you serious?"

Will shrugged. "You need a place to stay while you get better. I could do with a roommate, to be honest." He glanced at Lee. "I'm pretty sure I'm due a holiday, so I could keep an eye on you."

"It sounds like a good idea, Nico," Lee said gently.

Nico nodded. "If it's really okay..."

Will pulled him closer, smoothing the messy black hair like he'd seen Piper doing earlier. "Of course it is, Nico. You're my friend. We'll get everything sorted out, I promise."


	4. Chapter 4

_If you recognise it, it's not mine._

* * *

"Well, here we are," Will said, flipping the light switch. "Home sweet home." He dodged out of the door to fetch the bags of shopping he'd picked up on the way home.

Nico looked around the small apartment with interest. It was in a sort of organised chaos, with dishes stacked in the sink and piles of books, papers and CDs everywhere else. The clearest space in the main room was a desk and the shelf next to it, which held a row of medical textbooks and a collection of framed photos. Nico wandered over to it curiously. There were a several of what Nico assumed were family photos; he knew Will had a pretty big extended family.

In the midst of these was a picture it took Nico several seconds to recognise as a copy of a selfie Leo had somehow persuaded their group of friends to take sometime last spring. It took him another moment to locate himself amongst the mass of grinning faces. The boy in the photo was smiling too, squashed in between Jason and Annabeth. His hair was shorter and neater; by now it almost reached his shoulders. His face was filled out, and even though there were slight shadows under his eyes, they were shining and bright. Nico caught his reflection in the glass on a window. These days his cheeks were almost hollow, and it had been a long time since he'd felt like smiling. He sighed just as Will came back in, a bag in each hand. Nico moved to help, but Will waved him away, nudging the door shut with his foot.

"Don't, I'm fine. You've got a broken wrist, remember?"

Nico glanced down at the cast ruefully. "Yeah. I guess I forgot," he said lightly. Will frowned, putting the shopping down and moving to stand beside him.

"Are you okay? You're not too tired or anything like that?"

Nico shook his head. "I slept for like, eight hours today. I'm fine, honestly."

Will didn't look convinced, and prodded him over to the couch firmly. "Go on, sit. I'll just put this lot away first. Do you want anything to eat?"

Nico considered the question for a moment. While he'd been out on the streets, he'd essentially lived on what he could get from rubbish bins; there was a McDonald's near his- near Persephone's- house, so he'd lived on half-eaten Happy Meals for a couple of weeks before the manager caught him and threatened to phone the police.

"Nico?" Will tapped him on the arm, frowning.

"I'm fine, thanks," Nico responded automatically. Will set a glass of water down on the table in front of him.

"Drink, then. Fluids and all that." He raised an eyebrow at Nico, grinning slightly. "Doctor's orders."

They ended up watching a movie, something about superheroes. Halfway through, Nico realised that Will had fallen asleep with one arm draped across his shoulders. Smiling to himself, he leant across and pressed the volume control on the remote, silencing the battle playing out on screen, before glancing at his friend. Nico realised that he hadn't seen Will really look relaxed since he'd met him in the hospital, and he felt a slight twist of guilt. Will mumbled something in his sleep as Nico shifted sideways, tightening his grip on Nico's shoulder. Nico tensed, then relaxed, remembering it was just Will. "Never knew you were a cuddler, Solace," he muttered. Seeing as Will showed no signs of waking up (and to be honest, he looked like he needed the rest), Nico reached for the blanket which was thrown over the back of the couch and draped it over the two of them.

Soon enough, he'd fallen asleep, and soon enough, he started to dream.

_He was doing homework when she came in, high heels catching in the carpet. "What is this?" she snapped, shoving a handful of envelopes under_ _his nose._

_"A history essay," Nico replied in exasperation, pushing her arm away to continue writing. She slammed the envelopes down on his desk with_ _a thump._

_"What the hell are these?" she asked again, voice rising to almost a shriek._

_Nico looked at the envelopes and realised they all had his name on the front. "I think they're birthday cards," he said, unable to keep a note_ _of surprise out of his voice. "It's my birthday on Saturday. They'll be from my friends."_

_Persephone's eyebrows arched. "I believe I told you you weren't to have any contact with your... 'friends'? How do they have this address?"_

_Nico shrugged. He wasn't about to tell her about the birthday card he'd sent Percy._

_Persephone stared at the cards for a moment longer, then, with a decisive sniff, she tore them in half and tossed the pieces in the bin. Nico's heart hammered in his chest; the last time she'd done something this, a couple of weeks ago, she'd crushed the memory card of his phone underfoot and it had ended with a ringing feeling in his ears he suspected might have been a mild concussion, the result of slipping on the bad corner and tumbling down the stairs._

_"Those were mine," he said quietly, setting_ _his pen down on the desk and standing up. Even in her high heels, Persephone was several inches shorter than him, but as she glared at him, he felt small, as if he was ten years old again and standing at his sister's funeral. He could smell the cigarette smoke on his stepmother's breath, a stark contrast with her flowery perfume._

"_Not anymore," Persephone said crisply, about to turn and stalk out of the door again._

_"You can't stop me contacting them," Nico called recklessly, hands clenching into fists at his side._

_Persephone looked at him coldly. "This is my house, and for as long as you remain under this roof, you will do as I say. Is that clear, Nico?"_

_Nico glared at her. "No," he said. "You're not my mother. You have no say in what I do."_

_"Your mother was a reckless fool. She deserved-" Persephone stopped short, eyes widening as she realised what she'd just said._

_Nico felt a cold_ _hard weight settle in his stomach. "Get out of my room."_

_Persephone stayed put, a slight smirk on her face._

_"I said get out." He felt a sudden surge of anger, and suddenly he was moving across the room. "Get out!"_

_His foot kicked a closed_ _door, and he tripped and fell, hitting the floor of his room with a thud._

Nico woke with a jolt, flailing and tumbling off Will's couch, back scraping against the coffee table painfully.

"Nico?"

Will had sat up stiffly, and was staring at him, eyes wide in concern. "Are you okay?" He knelt beside Nico, fingers brushing against the t-shirt he'd borrowed last night. "What happened?"

Nico winced as Will's fingers touched the graze on his back. "I... I had a bad dream. About my-" he paused, remembering the way Persephone's cold eyes had looked at him. "Her," he finished lamely. Will looked at him and nodded, helping him to his feet.

"Did I fall asleep on you?" he asked, glancing at the blanket on the couch. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Nico shrugged, wincing as the movement sent a throbbing pain through his broken wrist.

Will picked up on it immediately, nudging him to sit down on the couch. "Wrist?" he guessed, reaching for the bag of medication they'd gotten from the hospital.

Nico nodded, and Will tipped a variety of pills into his palm. "That's for the pain," he explained. "The rest are the antibiotics, for your pneumonia."

"Okay."

"How did you break your wrist, anyway?" Will asked.

"I don't know. I just remember waking up in the hospital with a cast on. Before that I was sort of just wandering around, trying to find somewhere warm."

Will frowned thoughtfully. "Bob- one of the janitors- found you outside the door. You'd collapsed, apparently. I guess you might have broken it when you fell, that makes sense."

Nico shrugged. Abruptly, he realised that Will was staring at him intently, and he looked down at his hands nervously. "Sorry."

"What for?"

When Nico didn't answer, Will leant closer, tipping Nico's chin up to meet his gaze. "Nico, listen to me. There is absolutely nothing you need to apologise for. You've had a really bad time recently, and I am more than happy to help you. Got it?"

Nico felt tears welling up in his eyes, and he tried to blink them away before Will noticed. It didn't work.

"Hey, what's wrong? Nico?"

Nico shook his head, but didn't speak.

"Talk to me, c'mon."

Nico closed his eyes for a moment, blocking everything out except the sound of Will's voice.

Will sat down beside him. "Do you want to tell me what happened, Nico?"

Nico nodded slowly, and faltering and hesitant, he began to explain.


	5. Chapter 5

_If you recognise it, it's not mine._

* * *

"Do you remember that party after all your exams were over?"

Will nodded. "Of course." He didn't mention that he'd been thinking of that very party only the previous day.

"And you remember somebody gave Leo a disposable camera and then sent us all a set of the photos?"

This time Will winced and rolled his eyes. Their friend had been a complete nightmare, taking photo after photo of everything he could find. Nobody had been entirely surprised to get a copy of the photos in the mail soon afterwards.

"Well, Persephone found me when I was looking through my set." Nico took a deep breath, keeping his gaze fixed on the ground. "And I've already told you that she didn't want me to talk to any of you guys, so she obviously wasn't pleased."

He took a deep breath, and Will placed a soothing hand on his back. "So what happened?"

"She tore the photos up and threw them in the bin," Nico said quietly. "Then she told me to get out."

Will frowned. "She threw you out because of some photos?"

Nico turned to look at Will, dark eyes huge in his thin face. "Not exactly-" he began, but he was cut off by the sound of Will's cellphone ringing.

"It's Jason," Will said, checking the caller ID. "Should I ignore him?"

"No, answer it," Nico said quickly. "It could be important."

Will sent him an 'and this isn't?' look, but hit answer, putting the phone on speaker. "Uh, hey, Jason."

_"Hey, Will. Is Nico there? We called in at the hospital and they said he'd gone home with you."_

"Hi," Nico said nervously.

_"Hi! How are you? Are you feeling better? I guess you're staying with Will now, but feel free to leave and move in with us if his fearless optimism gets annoying. How are you feeling?"_

"I'd tell you, if I could get a word in edgeways," Nico replied, a hint of his old sarcasm in his tone.

Will grinned. "So, what's up, Jason?" he asked.

_"Well, a group of us were going to go out for breakfast and we wondered if you'd like to join us." _

Nico looked nervous suddenly, hunching back against the couch cushions. "Um..."

_"Everyone's going to be there,"_ Jason continued brightly._ "They're all really looking forward to seeing you again, Nico." _

Nico swallowed. His fingers fluttered against his side as if he was trying to decide whether to cover his face or not. Will rested a hand on his shoulder, and Nico glanced up at him, the panic obvious in his eyes.

"We'll call you back, Jason," Will said quickly.

_"Okay,"_ Jason said._ "I really hope you can come, though, Nico." _

He hung up, and Will turned to Nico. "You okay there, Nico?"

"Not really," Nico muttered. "They're all going to stare at me, and they're going to want to know what happened, and- and-" He broke off in a cough, and looked at Will again, eyes wide. "I want to go," he said firmly. "I just...don't want to have to explain." He sighed, shoulders slumping.

"Okay," Will said, mulling it over in his mind. "How about you go find some clothes which'll fit you, and I call Jason back and explain? I can ask him to warn the others too." A sudden thought struck him, and he paused. "When you said you didn't want to explain... Nico, you do know you don't have to tell me anything you don't want to, okay? I'm more than happy to listen, but please don't feel obliged or anything."

Nico sighed again. "I want...I mean, I trust you," he mumbled. "But I don't want to try and tell everyone at once. Could I...could I finish telling you first?" he asked nervously, something almost childlike in his tone.

Will nodded. "Of course," he said, giving his friend a quick hug. "That sounds like a good plan, Nico."

Nico stood up, then hesitated. "Where do I find clothes?" he asked.

"In my closet. They'll probably be a little big, but we're the same height, and you can't keep wearing those." He gestured to Nico's worn, stained jeans and t-shirt. Nico looked a little embarrassed, but nodded and turned away.

"Um, can I use your shower?" he asked shyly.

"First door on the left," Will replied. "My room's across the hall. Uh... I don't know, ignore the mess. I was in a hurry yesterday."

Nico grinned fleetingly. Will reached for the phone. "Hey, Jason. We can be there at about half nine, is that okay?" Jason's whoop could probably have been heard without the phone. Will smiled. "Okay, but listen..."

At twenty-seven minutes past nine exactly, they were waiting outside the restaurant Jason had told him to come to. Nico peered up at the elegant silver sign nervously. "Olympus," he read. "Have you been here before?" he asked Will.

Will shook his head, but before he could answer, he caught a flash of movement through the tinted windows. The door swung open, forcing Will to step back, and suddenly there was a loud squeal and a startled gasp from Nico.

Will squinted in the sunlight and managed to make out Hazel's curly hair. The girl was clinging to Nico tightly, chattering excitedly. Nico was slowly losing his terrified expression, and was hugging Hazel back just as tightly. Passers-by smiled at the pair.

"Oh my _god_, Nico," Hazel muttered, releasing her grip on him. "What happened?" she demanded, sounding angry and worried all at once.

Nico shrugged. "It's a long story. I don't know," he whispered. "I'm sorry, Hazel, I didn't mean to-"

"Don't you _dare_ apologise, di Angelo," she snapped, gold eyes flashing. "Come on. Everyone's in here." She grabbed his arm and tugged him after her. Will followed them, smiling to himself. He had forgotten how close the two were. The two were almost the same age, Hazel being perhaps half a year younger, but Hazel was studying art at a different school to Nico. Belatedly, Will realised she should have been the first person he called.

The others were seated around a round table near the back of the room. Will ended up sitting between Jason and Nico, who had Hazel on his other side.

"I warned the others," Jason said quietly. "How is he?"

"He's doing okay," Will muttered back. "I think-" He was interrupted by a waiter, who was waiting patiently for the round of greetings to end.

"Hi, I'm Ganymede, and I'll be your waiter for this morning. Are you ready to make your orders?"

It turned out that the restaurant served mostly pancakes, which seemed like a pretty good plan considering their group.

Nico looked around the table and frowned. "Hey, where's Leo?"

Piper blinked in surprise. "Oh, you wouldn't know, would you? During the summer, he met a girl-"

Nico raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "I thought he was chasing after Reyna?"

The girl in question spluttered indignantly. Piper shook her head and carried on. "Anyway, they've decided to go on some sort of road trip thing. No idea how they're managing it, but Jason got a postcard from them a while ago."

Nico nodded, and the conversation moved to another topic.

Ganymede brought their pancakes with a slightly long-suffering expression; everyone had chosen something different, so it took a while to get it all sorted out. Pretty soon they were all swapping plates anyway, offering different samples to everyone around the table. (Frank did offer people the fruit salad he was eating, seeing as all the pancakes involved cream or milk or chocolate in some way, but nobody was very interested).

Eventually Will noticed that Nico hadn't said anything in several minutes, and was fidgeting in his seat nervously. "Hey, are you okay?" he murmured in a low voice, tapping the younger boy on the shoulder.

"M'fine," Nico mumbled. He was staring down at the tabletop, and he'd barely eaten half of his pancake. "Just...need to go to the..."

Will nodded, pointing to where he'd noticed the door earlier. Nico slipped out of his seat and walked away. Will frowned after him, noting the way his shoulders were hunched under Will's too-big shirt. Hazel followed his gaze, pursing her lips worriedly. "He's so thin," she said quietly. "Are you sure he's okay, Will? He looked like something was hurting him."

Will shrugged. "If he's not back in a few minutes I'll go check on him," he said. Hazel nodded, turning back to the table.

A couple of minutes later, Hazel nudged his arm. "I'm going to go see if he's okay," she said, standing up and heading off before Will could stop her.

It was barely a minute before she came back.

"Is he okay?" Will asked, looking at her.

Hazel shook her head. "He wouldn't open the door. I figured you'd know what to do." She paused, biting her lip anxiously. "He didn't sound very good though, Will."

Jason glanced round anxiously. "What's going on?"

He was talking to an empty chair. Will was already halfway across the room.


	6. Chapter 6

_If you recognise it, it's not mine._

* * *

Only one door was closed, the one at the very end, and it was this one Will stopped in front of.

"Nico? Are you okay?"

There was silence, then a miserable-sounding "Will?"

"Yeah, it's me. You gonna let me in?" There was another silence. Will waited several seconds then tapped on the door gently. "You know, I can't see if you nod or shake your head. Besides, you've locked the door."

"Is anyone... anyone else there?" Nico asked, voice muffled.

"Nope. Just me."

There was a shuddering sigh, and then the door clicked and opened enough for Will to slip in. Nico was hunched in a small ball on the floor, head buried in his knees. Will tried to kneel down, trod on Nico's foot, and stood up again. "C'mon, up you get," he muttered, looping an arm around the smaller boy's back. Nico flinched but stood, leaning heavily against Will as he led them out to the sinks.

Nico's face was very pale, and he was trembling noticeably. Even as he raised his head to look at Will, he dropped his gaze again, trying to cover his eyes without losing his balance.

"Migraine?" Will guessed softly, moving so the light wasn't shining directly into Nico's face. Nico nodded almost imperceptibly, still not looking up. "Anything else?"

"My... I feel kinda sick," Nico said in a small voice. His fingers were gripping the side of the sink behind him so tightly the knuckles had turned white.

Will nodded; he should have expected that. Nico had barely been off the streets for two days, it was no wonder his system was a little overwhelmed.

"Okay," he said, reaching out to check Nico's temperature. The other boy flinched away from him, shivering. "It's fine. I'll try and find you a painkiller to take, Annabeth usually has some, and then we'll go back to my place, and you can lie down for a while."

He stepped away, and Nico made a sort of pained moan. "I'm not leaving," Will said firmly. "I'm just getting some stuff to make you feel better."

To his surprise, Hazel and Jason were hovering outside the bathroom, identical expressions of concern on their faces. Will sighed with relief. "Can one of you go and get some painkillers off Annabeth, and a glass of water?" he said before either of them could say anything.

"Is he-" Hazel began.

"He's kind of overwhelmed. I think I'm going to just take him home, let him rest. Um, here," Will said, handing over a handful of cash to Jason to pay for the food. The other boy nodded.

"Do you want me to call a cab?" he asked.

"That would be really helpful," Will said gratefully. "Actually, could you give me a hand getting Nico outside? I could do with some crowd control," he added, gesturing to the mix of waiters and customers which were beginning to fill the room.

Jason nodded. "Sure," he said as Hazel came back, clutching a small packet and a glass of water. Will took them and went back to Nico.

The younger boy was in much the same condition as he'd left him, leaning against the row of sinks, head down in an attempt to avoid the light.

"Hey," Will murmured, handing the pill to Nico and holding out the glass of water. "How're you doing?"

Nico shook his head. "P-please can we go now?" he asked, swallowing the pill quickly with a few mouthfuls of water. Will set the glass down on the counter.

"Yeah, come on. Jason's calling a cab."

Nico leant heavily on him as they made their way through the restaurant. Reyna and Frank were doing a pretty good job of gesturing for people to move, and by the time they got out, Jason had managed to hail a cab. Will said a hurried apology as they climbed in, and then the door shut.

Nico curled into his side as they began to move, muttering something quietly. Will smoothed his hair comfortingly, and sent a group text explaining what had happened with his other hand. By the time they arrived at his apartment, the painkiller was kicking in and Nico was half asleep, drowsily stumbling as Will turned the key in the lock.

"Will?" Nico mumbled from the chair he was slumped in as Will hurriedly set a bed up on the couch, clearing up various bits of debris as he did so. "When... when Persephone kicked me out, 'cause of the photos..." He winced as he tried to follow Will's movements around the room.

"You don't have to explain just now, Nico. Wait till you feel better."

Nico shook his head. "No, s'important," he insisted, clinging to Will's shoulder as the older boy tried to get him to lie down. He winced again, letting out a small whimper. "Head hurts," he mumbled, squeezing his eyes shut against the light filtering through the blinds.

"Get some sleep, Nico," Will advised, running his hand through the boy's scruffy fringe again.

"But...the picture, from the game. She didn't like it. Said it was wrong."

"Nico, I have no idea what you're talking about," Will said firmly. "Come on, you're tired, you don't feel good... We'll talk about it tomorrow, okay?"

"Tomorrow?" Nico asked, blinking up at Will. Will had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing; he had no idea that migraines turned Nico into a three year old.

"Tomorrow," he promised, even though it wasn't even eleven AM yet. Nico nodded and shut his eyes. When he was sure he was asleep, Will stood up and headed to the cupboard in the corner of the room.

This was the one he kept memories in. Old clothes, books, toys, photos. Relatively near the front, resting on top of his folded Delphi University hoodie, was an envelope of photos. Will took it over to the table and shuffled through the photos curiously. There were about thirty, although nobody could work out how Leo had managed to get that many out of the cheap disposable camera. Some of them were blurred and gloomy, but others were in perfect focus. Will grinned as he looked through them. There were several cute couple-y photos- Percy and Annabeth, Jason and Piper, Frank and Hazel. At some point, someone else had taken a photo of Reyna pushing Leo into the pool as he tried to wrap his arm around her shoulders.

Will set them down on the table again. He couldn't see anything that Nico's stepmother would be bothered by- Nico was only in a handful of the photos, and they were mostly group shots. Frowning, he skimmed through them again, until one of the darker, blurred ones caught his eye. It was a picture of Percy, face illuminated by the light of the bonfire. It appeared to have been taken during the game of Spin the Bottle, but he couldn't quite make out who he was kissing.

Tilting the photo this way and that, he squinted, trying to make out the other person. It wasn't Annabeth, at any rate, he decided. The hair was too short, the face too angular.

And suddenly it clicked, with a horrible sinking feeling in his stomach as he stared at the shadowy profile he was only just recognising now.

_"The picture, from the game. She didn't like it. Said it was wrong."_

The other person, the one in the photo which had probably been taken when they were all hyper from the relief of the exams being over and maybe a tiny bit drunk, was Nico.

Will set the photo down and rested his head in his hands, trying to piece together what had happened.

So Persephone had found the pictures. She'd been angry because for some reason she didn't want Nico to have friends, and then she'd spotted the photo from a stupid party game. And kicked him out for it.

Will glanced across at Nico. He really was too thin, too pale, and the worried look didn't leave his face as he slept.

Will felt like tracking the woman down and yelling at her, because Nico didn't deserve this. He deserved to have grown up with a mom and a dad and a sister, rather than a dead mother and a sister who died when he was ten, a father who spent more time in a different state than in the same house, and Persephone.

"I swear I'm going to get this sorted out, Nico," he muttered softly, not caring that the last time he'd made someone that promise, he hadn't been able to keep it.

Will shook his head quickly. Nico wasn't Michael. This would end better than that.

_Anything would end better than that,_ a voice in the back of his head muttered.

Will stood up and decided that it wasn't too early to make lunch, and besides, he needed the distraction.


	7. Chapter 7

If you recognise it, it's not mine.

* * *

_"Nico." Her voice was like a shard of metal, low and dark and sharp. Nico's head snapped up so fast he nearly overbalanced. Persephone was standing in the doorway of the kitchen, something clenched in her fist so tightly it was little more than a crumpled scrap of paper. Nico crossed the room in three long strides, tearing it from her grasp roughly. _

_He smoothed it out carefully, recognising the photo immediately. He felt a twisting sensation in his stomach, and he glanced up at Persephone. Before he could say anything, his stepmother slapped him, hard, sending him stumbling backwards into the counter. _

_"You went in my room," he snapped, running his fingers over the photo. _

_Persephone hit him again, and again. The ornate ring on her finger left shallow scrapes on his cheekbone. "What is this?" she asked, pointing to the photo. _

_"A photo," Nico said. "Of me and my friend, at a party last year." _

_"Don't be silly, Nico," Persephone sighed. "You know what I mean." She reached out for the photo, but Nico pulled it out of her reach. _

_"No, I don't."_

_"You see, this is exactly why I didn't want you to spend time with those people, Nico. They're only a bad influence." _

_"Excuse me?" Nico asked incredulously. "A bad influence?" _

_"Well, you obviously wouldn't have engaged in any sort of... activity like that otherwise, would you?" _

_Nico stared at her. And then he laughed. "What if I would?" he muttered. _

_Persephone's eyebrows twitched, as if they were trying to escape. "What did you say?" she asked. _

_"What if I would?" Nico said. He held up the photo, knowing he was playing with fire. "Well?" _

_Persephone's face had gone very pale, with splotches of red standing out on her cheeks. When she snatched the photo and dropped it to the floor, tearing it under her heel, her hand was trembling. When she spoke, her voice was steady. "Then you can get out." _

_Nico stood shellshocked for a couple of seconds. _

_"Get out!" Persephone screamed suddenly, snatching a half-full glass of water from the counter and hurling it at him. Nico dodged just in time and it shattered against the wall. Persephone stalked towards him, fists clenched, and he side-stepped her around the table, grabbing his old jacket from where it was draped over the back of a chair. "Fine," he snapped, shrugging it over his shoulders. He put his hand in his pocket, finding a few coins and his phone, and suddenly there's a thick lump in his throat and tears in his eyes, and when he speaks, there's something strange in his tone. "Have fun explaining this to my father." _

Nico woke with a jolt, blinking in surprise as the first thing he noticed was the smell of burning. He sat up, glancing over the back of the couch to see Will poking at his oven hopefully. Wisps of smoke were coming out of the edges, and even as Nico stared, the smoke alarm went off in a piercing shriek.

"Schist," Will muttered. Nico grinned at the curse they'd adopted last year, one of Hazel's ideas to prevent the introduction of a swear jar. "Schist, schist, schist." Looking around frantically, Will dragged a chair over and climbed on top of it, trying to turn off the smoke alarm.

Nico stood up and headed over to the oven, pulling on the oven glove lying on the table and managing to get what looked like the cremated remains of a grilled cheese sandwich out one-handed. The smoke alarm died off with a squeal, and Will climbed off the chair looking flustered, hair sticking up.

"Thanks," he said sheepishly.

Nico grinned. "No problem," he replied, leaning against the counter.

"Are you feeling better?" Will asked, switching off the oven.

"Yeah, actually. Sorry about earlier."

"It's fine." Will waved it off. "Um, I was just trying to make lunch. Do you want anything?"

Nico glanced at the clock, surprised to see that it was almost one in the afternoon. "Um, maybe, yeah. Something simple would be nice," he added.

"Sure. Soup okay?"

"That would be great. Do you want a hand?"

Will grinned at him. "I think I'm capable of heating up a tin of soup by myself," he said cheerfully. "If you could clear some space on the table, it'll be ready in a few minutes."

Nico nodded, reaching out to put the chair Will had been standing on back in place. Not wanting to move anything too much, he stacked up books and shifted sheafs of paper held together with paper clips over to the other end of the table. Then he saw the photos, in a loose pile.

His heart stuttered in his chest, breath hitching in his throat as he took in the top picture, and his hands gripped the top of the chair in front of him tightly.

"Nico?" Will asked, turning round. His eyes widened in concern as he saw what Nico was staring at. "Oh, Nico..."

"You're right," Nico said, surprised at how steady his voice was. "It's... She kicked me out because Percy kissed me during spin the bottle and Leo took a photo and she found the photo and she was angry and threw a glass at my head when I came out-" He broke off briefly when Will put his hands on his shoulders, blue eyes wide and worried. A part of him was telling him to stop, to calm down, but it was overwhelmed by the way he didn't seem to be able to stop talking.

"Nico-"

"-and now you're going to kick me out too-"

"Nico!" Will took a deep breath, covering Nico's trembling hand with both of his own. "For god's sake, Nico. I'm not going to kick you out. What sort of person do you think I am?"

Nico swallowed. "Sorry," he whispered.

Will shook his head, turning back to the soup before it could boil over. "I'm sorry I looked into the photos, but it was obviously something which was bothering you."

"It's fine," Nico said, sitting down. He sighed, shuffling the photos together into a pile and slipping them back into the envelope. "It was all last year, anyway."

Will set two bowls of steaming soup down on the table, and there was a moment of silence.

"If you don't mind me asking, Nico," Will began, blowing on a spoonful of soup to cool it, "when you said 'came out', did you mean..."

Nico stared into his soup. "Yeah," he said quietly. "She said that hanging out with you guys encouraged me to do stuff I wouldn't normally, like kissing boys, I guess, and I asked her how she'd react if I would. She threw a glass at my head." He smiled bitterly. "I guess that technically makes you the second person I've told."

Will nodded. "I'm honoured," he said. Nico shrugged, and Will raised an eyebrow at him. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm gay too."

Nico tried not to look too surprised, but his eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yeah."

Nico glanced down at his soup again. There was an awkward silence, broken only by the sounds of the spoons against the bowls.

"With Percy, in the photo..." Nico blurted suddenly, pale cheeks blushing scarlet, "I had a crush on him, back then."

"Fair enough," Will said mildly.

"But not anymore. That was last year."

"That's fine, Nico." Nico raised his head to meet Will's gaze, blue eyes staring at him. There was something odd about his expression, something sad. "Like I've said before, you can talk to me about anything. Seriously."

They finished their meal, and Will pointed out a shelf filled with DVDs. This time they ended up with a comedy, and Nico relaxed and laughed along with Will because it feels so much better to tell someone, rather than have it huddled away inside him like a hot torch, burning away at his insides.

At one point, he looked over at Will to see him sitting there, staring into the distance, and that strange, sad expression is back on his face again.

"Hey," Nico whispered, nudging him in the side gently. "What's up?"

Will turned to look at him. "Nothing," he said, even though there's something off in his tone, and it's almost familiar. "I'm fine."

He ruffled Nico's hair playfully and draped his arm across his shoulders, and Nico let him.

It wasn't until hours later, when he's getting ready to go to bed, that Nico realised what was strange about Will's voice earlier.

His own sounded almost exactly the same the day Persephone kicked him out.

He hadn't realised that there was a specific sound for trying not to cry.


	8. Chapter 8

If you recognise it, it's not mine.

* * *

_"Mama? Bianca?" _

_Nico twisted his head sideways, desperately trying to see out of the spiderwebbed mass of cracks which used to be the car window. _

_"Nico?" A hand touched his knee, and he yelped in shock before recognising it as his sister's. "Nico, are you hurt?" _

_Nico burst into tears, wriggling until he could see Bianca's face. "Bianca, what happened? Where's Mama?" _

_Bianca gripped his hand tightly, rubbing her thumb against the back of his palm. "We were in an accident," she whispered, voice scratchy with pain, and Nico noticed that the hand which wasn't holding his was bent in what was definitely the wrong direction. "Remember?" _

_Nico blinked at her, a lump in his throat. He could hear sirens in the distance. "Mama?" he asked again, voice trembling, sounding so much younger than nine years old. _

_Bianca's eyes widened. "Nico," she breathed. "You're bleeding..." _

_Almost unconsciously, Nico reached to the back of his head. His fingers came away red and sticky, and suddenly he could smell the coppery scent of blood all through the car, and he could see the crushed wreck of what used to be the front seat. Ignoring Bianca's desperate pleas, he began to scream. _

Nico woke with a jolt. His hand automatically flew to the back of his head, feeling the old scar nervously.

He had a faint sense that it wasn't just the nightmare which had woken him, and he lay staring up at the dim ceiling for several seconds before he heard it again. A muffled sniff, as if someone was trying not to sneeze. Or crying, softly.

Nico stood up slowly, unsteady in the unfamiliar darkness. "Will?" he called quietly. The glowing clock on the cooker read just after two as he padded past it, instinctively scrunching his toes away from the cold floor.

He paused outside Will's room. There was a thin crack of light along the floor, but he couldn't hear anything.

Then he heard the sniffing again. It was definitely crying.

"Will?" Nico asked, tapping the door gently. It swung open slowly at his touch. "Are you okay?"

Will was sitting at the end of his bed, head in his hands, but he looked up as Nico stepped inside. His eyes widened, and Nico noted the tear tracks on his face. "Nico? What are you doing here? You should be resting." He made a little shooing motion with his hands, then sighed. "Did I wake you up? I'm so sorry."

"It's fine," Nico said. "Will, what's wrong?"

Will shook his head, staring at a point on the wall over Nico's shoulder. "It's fine. Go back to bed. Sorry I woke you up."

Nico stared at him for a second, then walked across the room and pushed Will down, sitting beside him firmly. "Will, you're clearly upset at two in the morning, and I'm not heartless enough to just go back to bed." He reached out to pat Will's shoulder comfortingly, then realised he still had a cast on his wrist. "Come on," he said, trying to mimic Will's tone from earlier. "What's up?"

Will gave a shuddering sigh, twisting his hands in his lap. His thumb rubbed against the back of his hand anxiously, and Nico covered it with his own hand. Will stiffened abruptly. "I.." he began slowly, then closed his eyes and started again. "Okay, um, this is kind of a long story." He took a deep breath. "Okay, so you know I have this huge extended family? I had this awesome cousin, called Michael. He was about three years older than me, but he was always really nice to me. We were... we were really close. So when I realised I liked boys, when I was sixteen or so, he was the only person I told. And he was really cool about it, even though I was a complete mess, and hugged me and helped me come out to the rest of my family."

"He sounds great," Nico said, squeezing Will's hand encouragingly.

Will sighed again, eyes still shut. "Most of them took it pretty well, me coming out, except for my uncle, Helios. He didn't really say anything, but you could tell he was angry. He basically stopped talking to me and my parents, and things basically got really... complicated." He broke off with a short, bitter laugh. "And he was Michael's father."

"Oh."

"Yeah. So Michael wasn't supposed to hang out with me any more, but he did anyway, and his mom and my parents didn't tell his dad. And then one day he turned up at our house with a broken nose, saying that his dad had kicked him out."

Will's eyes opened, pale and silvery with tears in the dim light. "It... it turned out that the reason he'd been so encouraging to me when I came out, and why he'd been so mad at his dad, was that he was gay too. Obviously, he hadn't even tried saying anything, not after the way Helios treated me, but he'd been seeing this guy, Dakota, in secret. And... well, Helios found out."

"What happened?" Nico murmured, although he had a sinking feeling he knew where this was going.

"My parents took him in, but a couple of nights later he woke me up in the middle of the night and we talked for a while, just about random stuff, and he told me not to never let people screw with me and hugged me before I fell asleep, and when I woke up, he was gone."

"Oh, Will-" Nico could feel sharp tears in his eyes, along with a heavy lump in his throat.

Will was crying, voice thick and shaky. "And I didn't see him again, or hear anything, until we... we got the invitation. To the funeral." He spat the last sentence out as if it burned his lips, before burying his face in his hands and letting himself be taken over by silent sobs.

Nico closed his eyes, swallowing the lump in his throat. "I'm so sorry, Will," he whispered. He could feel a tight knot of guilt in his chest, like it was his fault or something. He couldn't imagine how Will must've felt these last few days, watching such a similar situation.

Impulsively, he pulled Will into a tight hug. His friend stiffened, then relaxed, pressing his face against Nico's shoulder desperately. Nico could feel hot tears soaking into the borrowed shirt he was wearing, and realised with a start that he had never seen Will cry before. He'd known him for several years, since his first term at uni, but he'd never seen him cry before. A part of him wondered if this was the first time the other boy had really told anyone about the whole thing at all. The rest of him focused on comforting Will.

"Hey, it's okay," he whispered. "It's okay, Will."

Will mumbled something which Nico guessed was probably an apology, and sat up. His face was blotchy with tears, and his eyes held the type of exhaustion which Nico had seen staring back at him from mirrors too many times. The sort of exhaustion which came from having thought about something for so long that it actually hurts to let it go.

"Hey," he said quietly, voice hoarse from crying. "I'm..."

"It's fine, Will." Nico cut him off before he could apologise. "It's fine."

"Right. Okay. Um..."

Nico patted him on the shoulder gently, and stood up. "It's half two in the morning," he said gently. "Sleep sounds like a good plan, huh?"

He took a couple of steps towards the door, but a whisper from Will halted him. "Can you stay?"

He turned around hastily, almost tripping over the corner of the bed. Will's eyes widened comically as he realised what he'd said. "I mean...um..."

"You don't want to be left on your own?" Nico guessed. Will nodded, cheeks flushing. "Yeah... me neither."

As he sat down on the edge of the bed again, Will reached out and pressed the back of his hand to his forehead. Nico flinched reflexively, but Will pursed his lips disapprovingly.

"You too," he said decisively, shifting sideways to make room. "You need rest, Nico. We may as well be insomniacs together."

Nico shrugged internally and lay down.

Surprisingly enough, no matter how cliched it felt, it was easier to fall asleep with Will's even breathing by his side.

* * *

In the morning, it took Nico several moments to work out where he was, but eventually he realised he was lying in Will's bed, and the events of the night flooded back to him. Will himself was nowhere to be found, but he could hear clattering from the kitchen.

Nico got up, showered, and dressed in the clothes which had been left out for him; jeans and another of Will's shirts. He plucked at the bright fabric as he sat down at the table. Aside from the fact that this was the most colourful thing he'd worn in years, it didn't fit. He and Will were almost the same height, but Nico had always been skinny, and the shirt hung off his frame in a way which only emphasised his weight loss.

"Morning," Will said cheerfully, setting a plate of toast on the table next to the little bottle of antibiotics.

"Hey," Nico said back. "Feeling better?"

Will paused. "Yeah. Yeah, a lot. Thanks," he added. "How about you? You looked pretty rough as well. Bad dream?"

Nico shrugged, generously tipping coffee into a mug. "Yeah," he said quietly.

Will nodded sympathetically. "Well, if it happens again, just come find me," he said firmly.

"Same for you," Nico replied, sipping his coffee. "Deal?"

"Deal," Will grinned.

They were halfway through the plate of toast, Nico cleared his throat. "I'd like to go back to Persephone's," he said. "Not to stay," he added hastily. "Just to pick up some stuff. I mean, I can't keep wearing your shirts, and there's some other stuff I'd quite like, if that's okay with you."

Will frowned. "Are you sure you're up to it?" he said. "What if she... objects?"

Nico shrugged. "What day is it?"

"Saturday."

Nico nodded thoughtfully. "She has a flower-arranging class, I think. Between twelve and one. I know where the spare key's kept, we could go in, grab some stuff, and leave again pretty fast."

"Okay," Will said. "If you're sure you feel fine."

Nico smiled, and tried to block the sounds of Will's sobs, Persephone's shrieks, his own nine-year-old screams, from his mind.

"Don't look so worried," Will chided. "If she's really out, you'll be fine. And if we meet her... well, I've been meaning to have a few words with her."

He pulled a jokey threatening face, and Nico laughed. Angry was something he could never imagine being used to describe Will, what with the floppy blonde hair and goofy smile.

As it turned out, he was wrong.


	9. Chapter 9

_If you recognise it, it's not mine._

* * *

The key was tucked under the corner of the doormat, and Nico unlocked the door quickly. "I'm just going to get some stuff quickly," he said, rummaging in the hall cupboard for a holdall. "My room's upstairs."

"Okay," Will said. "Do you want me to come, or should I stay here and watch out for Persephone?"

Nico shrugged, then nodded. "That might actually be a good idea." He grinned suddenly. "Text me, and I'll know to climb out of the window."

Will laughed, and sat down on a windowsill. He could see a large portion of the sweeping driveway, but not the actual door.

Hopefully that meant that Persephone wouldn't be able to see him either. He had a feeling a random guy lounging on the windowsill wouldn't go down so well.

He could hear a clock ticking, and it took him a while to locate it; this place was huge.

It said half past twelve, and Will's eyes widened. They'd misjudged the distance from Will's flat, but he'd thought they had more time than this. He returned his gaze to the window, tapping his fingers against the sill nervously.

Ten minutes, Nico dumped a large bag at his feet, hauling another one out of the closet.

"That's got clothes in it," he explained. "I'm just going to get some personal stuff, like photos and things." He hesitated for a second. "She'd probably just burn them otherwise."

In the time taken to fill the bag, he'd gone very pale, his hair looking like splashes of ink on his white forehead.

Will frowned. "Are you feeling okay?" Nico nodded firmly, giving him a look which told him to drop it, and Will sighed. "Do you want a hand? We should probably get out of here pretty quickly."

Nico ran a hand through his hair, glancing at the clock. "Yeah, maybe. Come on, then." He gestured to the stairs, and Will followed him. "My room's up here. Watch out," he added as they reached the top. "That step's really easy to lose your balance on, for some reason the carpet doesn't stick properly."

"Okay," Will said, noting the way Nico was rubbing the side of his head, as if he had a headache.

Nico shoved the door to his room open roughly. Will stifled a gasp.

The room was large and well-decorated, but bedding was strewn over the floor and the wallpaper was torn and ragged in places. As he took a step forward, something crunched under his foot. He looked. Broken glass, from the photo frames lying in a heap at the foot of a shelf.

"Nico," Will whispered, staring at the destruction in horror, "what happened?"

Nico shrugged, kneeling down to start stuffing the photo frames into the bag one-handed, the cast on his wrist making him clumsy. "It would appear that Persephone didn't take my departure as well as I'd hoped," he said, voice tight with something Will couldn't identify. He hissed in pain as one of the shards of glass still in the frame nicked his hand, and Will knelt beside him.

"Let me do that," he said quietly.

Nico looked like he wanted to protest, but eventually stood and moved over to the desk. Will reached for the photos, glancing at them curiously. Most of them were of what Will guessed was Nico's family. The photos were quite old; the smiling little boy in them couldn't be more than seven or eight. Beside him was a girl who was a couple of years older than him, and Will realised that it must be his sister, Bianca. Standing with a hand on each of their shoulders was a woman, dark eyes laughing at the camera. She had the same dark hair and eyes as both her children, and Will could see that Bianca would practically have been a carbon copy when she was older. Nico's father was standing at the back of the shot, eyes dark and brooding, face almost turned away from the camera.

In later photos, the woman was gone, and Bianca pressed closer to Nico, more protective, while their father seemed to be edging out of the shot altogether, tall and thin in a dark suit. The last, and most recent photo was the only one left unbroken, and that was only because it was pushed to the very back of the shelf.

This time, Nico was squeezed into the edge of the picture, half shadowed by the frame. His father and a woman Will guessed must be Persephone took up most of the shot. Will studied her carefully. She was beautiful, in a slightly fragile, Disney-princess way. Her dark hair, maybe a little lighter than Nico's, cascaded over her shoulders in perfect curls. Big, earth-brown eyes blinked sweetly out of a delicate face which was a shade darker than porcelain. She was shorter than Nico and his father, slim figure encased in a flowing flower-patterned dress.

Overall, she didn't look like the sort of person who'd kick someone out of their home, but Will knew better than to judge by appearances.

He didn't realise that Nico had come up behind him until the frame was knocked from his hand by the heavy cast on his friend's wrist, the glass fracturing with a sound like breaking ice.

"Nico!" Will jumped up, putting his hands on the other boy's shoulders and pushing him down to sit on the bed. "Hey," he said more quietly. "What's up?"

Nico stared down at the floor stubbornly, but Will could see the slight tremble in his lip. He was still pale; if possible, he'd gone whiter.

"Are you hurt? Do you need medicine?"

Nico shook his head, the movement almost imperceptible. "Just..."

"It's getting to you, isn't it?" Will guessed. Nico sighed, looking deflated.

"Yeah. Can we...can we go now?"

Will nodded. "Is there anything else you want, besides the photos?"

"No. Everything else is hers." Nico almost spat the word out, shuddering slightly. He ran a finger along the still-bleeding cut on his hand from the glass earlier.

"Okay," Will said. "I'll finish up in here, then. You go put something on that cut."

Nico looked at him like he was going to protest, but Will raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Come on, doctor's orders."

Nico smiled back, although it was wobbly, and left. Will reached for the last couple of photos, leaving the one of Persephone where it lay on the floor.

Too late, he heard the slamming of the front door.

Zipping the holdall shut, he brushed specks of glass off his jeans and crossed to the door. Nico came out of a room across the hall and raised an eyebrow at him. "What's up?"

"Shh!" Will hissed, gesturing downstairs. "I think she's back early, I heard the door slam."

Nico's face went from confused to terrified to unnervingly calm in a split second. "Okay," he said more quietly. "Okay."

"Should we go?" Will asked, pointing back into Nico's room. "You said we could climb out of the window..."

He trailed off at the look Nico was giving him. "You do realise I was joking when I said that, Will? It's at least a five metre drop, maybe six." Will shrugged. "Into my stepmother's rosebushes."

"Oh."

"Oh, exactly. Besides, she'll have already seen the bag we left down there. She's not stupid, you know, she'll work out that I'm here." Nico's voice was quiet, but he was speaking too fast to be calm, and his eyes were wide and panicked. "Look, you stay here. If I go to meet her, I might be able to talk her out of doing anything."

"Nico-"

"I don't want you to get hurt, Will."

Nico stood and walked down the hall, towards the stairs. Will lay on his stomach with his face pressed to the gap under a cabinet, peering at a slanted view of the staircase.

He could see Nico's feet, balanced on the top step, and walking towards him, the lower half of a flowery dress.

"What the _hell_ do you think you're doing back here?" Persephone's voice was soft and clear, but there was something harsh about it, like the cold shock of a mountain stream.

Nico didn't reply, and Will saw the flowery dress move up several steps. There was something glinting in its folds, and Will swallowed hard as he saw the gleam of a knife.

"You have a knife," Nico said, obviously trying to point this out to Will.

"In case of burglars," Persephone replied coolly. "Coming home to find the door unlocked and a bag in the hall? It seems I was right."

"I've lived here since I was a child," Nico spat, voice surprisingly steady.

Persephone laughed. "Not anymore." She paused. Will could hear the faint tapping of metal against wood. "You haven't _really_ lived here since your sister died."

"Shut up," Nico snapped, but his voice was trembling now. "You don't get to talk about Bianca."

"Oh, yes," Persephone continued. "It was a tragic accident, wasn't it? _So_ like the one which killed your mother."

_"Shut up!"_ Nico said again, more forcefully. "Look, I just want to take my things and go. You never have to see me again, I'll talk to my dad, say I've been wanting to move out, okay?"

"But you haven't got anywhere to go," Persephone said quietly, voice dripping with false sympathy.

Will heard Nico take a deep breath. "Anywhere's better than with you, you witch," he muttered. "I can't understand what my father sees in you."

Silence. Will held his breath.

"Well," Persephone said eventually, and every hair on Will's body stood on end. "Too bad nobody'll ever love you either."

There was a whistle of metal through air, and Nico cried out, stepping out of Will's sight. Then there was a thud, and a gasp of pain.

Will was on his feet within half a second.


	10. Chapter 10

_If you recognise it, it's not mine._

* * *

The first thing Will saw as he stood was the knife, point wedged into the wood of a cabinet against the wall, the handle wobbling slightly from impact. Nico was lying on his side next to it, and Will knelt down beside him hurriedly. "Are you okay?" he said urgently, helping Nico sit up. "Are you hurt?"

"No," Nico replied breathlessly, cradling his broken wrist to his chest. He seemed to have landed on it when he fell. "She missed, I dodged it, I'm fine."

Will nodded, turning to face Persephone. Her arm was still outstretched, and she had a hand pressed to her mouth in shock. Before she could say anything, Will fixed her with the sort of stare he used on patients in the hospital who had done stupid things, or were refusing to listen to him.

"You're wrong."

"Ex-excuse me?"

"Will," Nico hissed, standing at his shoulder, "don't, she's crazy, let's just get out..."

"You're wrong," Will said again, "that nobody will ever love him."

Persephone laughed mockingly. "Really? Why would anyone want to love a disgusting little brat who's so messed up he can't-" She broke off as Will held her gaze, and her eyes widened. "Oh. You?"

"Me," Will said simply. "I've watched someone crash and burn before, and if I've ever known anything, it was that it wasn't their fault." He closed his eyes for a second, remembering that last time he'd seen Michael, the last thing he'd said to him.

_"Will, you're listening to me, right?"_

_"Yeah, yeah, I am."_

_"Good. You're a good guy, Will. Good instincts. Don't let anyone screw with you, 'kay? Got it?"_

"Got it," Will said aloud.

Persephone looked at him like he was insane. "Get out of my house."

"Believe me, we will," Will said. "And you're wrong about him having nowhere to go, too. He's staying with me."

"Will," Nico mumbled, tugging at his sleeve anxiously, "please can we just go?" Will glanced at him. Nico's hand was trembling, and his eyes were slightly unfocused.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Nico shook his head slightly, and Will nodded.

"Out," Persephone snapped, pointing to the door.

"Gladly," Will shot back. "Come on, Nico." He gave Persephone a final glare and walked down the stairs, heart pounding in his chest.

Just as he reached the bottom, he heard a rattling gasp, and turned round just in time to see Nico stumbling, his foot slipping out from under him on the slippery patch of carpet, casted wrist glancing off the banister with a thud.

Time slowed just long enough for Will to see Persephone looking just as shocked as he felt, to see Nico's dark eyes huge in his pale (too pale, far too pale) face. Then Nico's head cracked against the steps, one, two, three times, and he was lying at the foot of the steps, limbs at odd angles, head lolling drunkenly.

And suddenly, Will was moving, a doctor again. He knelt down beside Nico, fingers feeling for a pulse. Nico's skin was burning hot, and his pulse throbbed weakly under Will's touch.

"Call an ambulance," Will snapped.

"I'm not going to be told what to do by-" Persephone began.

"Call an ambulance, now. Otherwise, we can always use your car?"

Persephone nodded numbly, skirts rustling past Will as he bent over Nico again. "Nico, can you hear me?" He tapped his friend's cheek lightly, and Nico flinched, eyes inching open.

"W-will?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's me. You need to stay awake, got that?"

"But... 'm tired, Will." Nico tried to move his head, and gasped in pain. His eyes slid shut, and Will felt a flutter of panic in his chest.

"No, no, Nico, stay awake, okay? You need to talk to me, got it?" He ran his hand over Nico's head, smoothing his hair down. His hand came away smeared with blood.

"Will?"

"Yeah?" Will shrugged off his hoodie, pressing it to the wound on the back of Nico's head.

"Did... did you mean it? What you said?"

"Yes, yes, of course. Always."

Nico smiled, although the movement turned into a wince. "M-me too. Since... since last summer."

Persephone came striding back into the room, heels tapping mutedly against the carpet. "They'll be here in under five minutes," she said, tone clipped and brusque.

Will nodded, not taking his eyes off Nico. "Since summer, huh?" he asked lightly, keeping Nico's gaze locked on his. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Nico coughed, the sound rough and choked. "I don't..." He coughed again, breath catching in his throat with a wheeze. Gently, Will eased him to a sitting position, keeping the hoodie pressed to the back of his head.

Nico was coughing so hard he could hardly breathe, and suddenly, he doubled over and threw up over the bottom step. He slumped back against Will, face a ghastly shade of grey, chest heaving.

Will swore, panic gripping his own chest tightly.

And then the door banged open, and people he knew from the hospital were lifting Nico into the ambulance. Will followed them, gripping Nico's hand tightly and giving them a list of everything.

"He's got a broken wrist, and he's recovering from pneumonia. He collapsed about five minutes ago, and fell down a flight of stairs- he's hurt his head as well. He threw up, and was having difficulty breathing." He sounded like a doctor, but he didn't feel like one, and when they finally arrived at the hospital, Nico was whisked away somewhere, and Will didn't follow.

He was left standing in reception, hands shaking and smeared with blood and vomit, until Rachel (honestly, bless her for being on duty at that moment) glanced up from her computer, said something to the intern working beside her, and came out from behind the information desk to guide him to a chair at the side of the room.

"Will, what's going on? Is everything okay?"

Will shook his head. "Nico," he muttered, voice hoarse and catching in his throat.

Rachel looked at him, and seemed to read his mind and work out exactly what was going on. "Oh, Will..." she said quietly, rubbing his back gently. "It'll be okay, you know. It always is."

She reached for his phone, somehow guessed his passcode, and called a random friend. It turned out to be Piper, and she arrived ten minutes later.

She got Will to wash his hands and to tell her everything that had happened, and then hugged him so tightly he almost squeaked for air.

"You, Will Solace, are the best person I know right now."

By the time someone came and told them they could see Nico, Jason, Percy, and Hazel had arrived too.

They let Hazel go in first, and watched through the glass in the door as she seemed to tell Nico off, despite the IV stuck in his arm and the oxygen mask next to the bed. Percy joined her after a couple of minutes, and they both hugged him, and by the time Jason and Piper went in, he was smiling.

Piper whispered something to him before she left, and as Will walked in, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu, Nico was looking more nervous than happy.

"Um," Will began, and stopped.

Nico raised an eyebrow at him, and then the spell was broken. Will sat on the edge of the bed, holding Nico's hand in both of his, talking quietly and quickly.

"What the _hell_ were you doing, di Angelo? You should have told me as soon as you felt bad. That sort of thing doesn't happen straight away, you know. You should have stayed in the hospital longer, you should have-"

"Will," Nico said, grinning all over his face, "shut up."

Then he leaned forward and pressed his lips to Will's, slow and gentle.

(Outside in the corridor, Hazel's eyes widened to saucers, Piper punched Jason in excitement, and Percy's jaw dropped.)

Will shut up, and kissed him back.

(Piper's squeal could be heard right along the corridor.)

After what seemed like far too short a time, they broke apart. "You know," Will said breathlessly, not taking his eyes off Nico, "this would all have been a lot easier if we'd just gotten together last year."

Nico tilted his head to the side thoughtfully. "I guess."

("What are they saying? What are they saying?" Piper practically screeched in Jason's ear.)

"Well," Nico said, smiling slightly, and even though he was still too pale and had stitches in the back of his head and an IV in his arm, he somehow looked a billion times better, "I don't see why we can't pick it up from there."

"What do you mean?"

Nico shrugged, then winced as the IV tugged. "Hello, I'm Nico di Angelo, and I'm pretty sure I'll need a place to stay next semester."

Will grinned. "Will Solace. I could do with a roommate."

Just then, the door clicked open, and Jason stood there awkwardly. "Um... a nurse just told us that visiting hours ended ten minutes ago."

"Oh, okay," Nico said easily. He laughed. "Don't look so miserable, Will, you work here, remember?"

"True. See you tomorrow, Nico."

As soon as Will stepped out into the corridor, his friends attacked him.

Piper was jumping up and down, narrowly missing his feet, and Hazel literally tackle-hugged him. Jason slung an arm round his shoulders and grinned. Percy looked completely bewildered.

Will glanced back into Nico's room. The other boy had settled down, and looked like he was half asleep already. He had a feeling that it would take a while, but Nico was going to be fine.

"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" Percy said, shaking his head in despair.

Will laughed. "To be honest," he said, wondering just how far back he'd have to go to work it all out for himself, "it's kind of a long story."


	11. Epilogue

_If you recognise it, it's not mine_

* * *

Will was pretty sure the cheering could be heard all through the building, but he didn't really care.

It didn't matter.

What mattered was that his boyfriend was finally out of the hospital, was finally moving in with him, and the small apartment was literally full of people he loved.

Said boyfriend was sitting on the arm of the couch at that moment, laughing at something Hazel had just said, and Will paused to watch him for a second.

When he'd first met Nico, a couple of years ago at a college thing Percy was hosting, he'd found him interesting. A bit gloomy and antisocial, but interesting nonetheless. Over the years, as Nico became less antisocial and joined in more, Will realised that interesting didn't do him justice. It had taken him a stupidly long time to realise that he was actually kind of falling in love with the boy, and even longer to act on it. In between, Nico's father had married Persephone, who took a dislike to Nico himself, and things escalated until Nico had ended up homeless. None of them, his supposed friends, had even noticed, too caught up in their own lives of final exams and relationships. Then Will had found him in the hospital, and things had sort of gotten better from there. Will couldn't help but be amazed at the change in Nico. When he'd first seen him in the hospital, he'd been skinny and too pale. They hadn't realised quite how ill he was until he collapsed during the fiasco which was supposed to be a simple trip to collect his things from his old house. Now, weeks later, he was still pale, and definitely too thin, but his face was brighter, somehow, less gaunt.

Nico saw Will staring at him and caught his eye, smiling slightly, and Will realised he was grinning like an idiot. Hazel beckoned him over ("Will, come here, let me take a photo, you two are adorable I swear"), and he did, perching beside Nico and wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

"How are you doing?" he murmured into Nico's ear gently. Call him overprotective, but Nico had only gotten out of the hospital two days ago.

"I'm fine. More than fine," Nico replied, squeezing his hand. "What about you?"

"Say... um, pancakes!" Hazel chirped, holding up her smartphone.

"Um, pancakes," Nico deadpanned back, not looking at the camera.

"Pancakes?" Will asked.

Hazel shrugged. "Nico refuses to say 'cheese'. He says it makes his cheeks look weird." At Will's baffled look, she shrugged again and slipped her phone in her pocket. "I had to do a photography assignment, and I picked him."

"No, you stalked me for two weeks," Nico grumbled, but he was smiling.

Annabeth tapped him on the shoulder, and he jumped, blushing as he turned round. "Oh, sorry. I didn't see you there."

"Your phone's ringing," Annabeth said, holding out Nico's phone. Will could just hear the tinny sound of his ringtone over the noise of the party.

Nico took it, checking the caller ID, and the smile slipped from his face. His fingers tightened on the phone, and he took a couple of steps away.

"Nico? Who is it?" Will asked, following him.

"It's... it's my dad," Nico muttered. He was heading to the door that led to Will's room, obviously wanting privacy.

"Your dad?" Will asked, taking his arm and pushing him to sit down on the bed. The phone stopped ringing for a few seconds, but started up again. "You don't have to answer it, you know."

Nico's dad had been on a business trip for the last month or so, and Will had no idea how much he knew about what had been going on.

Nico shook his head. "I need to tell him what happened. We both know Persephone isn't going to tell the truth."

Will nodded. "Do you want me to stay?"

"It's fine. I can handle it." He picked up the phone again. "I'll come get you if I need you." He pressed answer as Will nodded and left the room.

"Hey, where'd Nico go?" Percy asked him a few minutes later.

Will jerked a finger towards his room. "His dad called."

Percy frowned. All their close friends had been told what had been going on with Nico, and it was obvious that Percy knew that this could go either way. "Is he okay?"

"I don't know. He didn't want me to stay."

Percy nodded. "How long has it been?"

"About five minutes. You think we should check on him?"

Before Percy could say anything, someone tapped Will on the shoulder. Turning, he saw Nico, phone still clutched in his hand. Will smiled."Hey, how did it-" Nico tackle-hugged him, a lurching, desperate movement. "Nico?"

His boyfriend was trembling, and Will could feel tears dripping onto his neck. "Nico, what's wrong?" He ran his hand over the back of Nico's head, smoothing down his hair. "Breathe, that's it, c'mon..."

"Are you okay?" Percy asked, leaning forward in concern. Someone switched off the music abruptly, and Will suddenly felt like the whole room was staring.

Which it was.

"What happened?" Hazel demanded, at his shoulder immediately.

"I'm... I'm not sure," Will replied, gently wriggling free of Nico's arms so he could rest his hands of his shoulders, looking straight at him. "Nico, what is it? Are you hurt?"

Nico shook his head, one hand covering his mouth. His eyes were wide and dark, and there were still tears trailing down his face.

"Okay, who do you want to explain to?" Will asked, gesturing to the room full of people.

"It's fine," Nico muttered, cheeks flushing pink. "It... it can wait. Honestly." Will raised an eyebrow, and Nico nodded fervently. "I don't want to screw up the party," he insisted, scrubbing at his face with the palm of his hand.

Will shook his head in exasperation, handing him a tissue from the box on the coffee table. "It's your party, you idiot. It's no good if you're upset."

Nico nodded resignedly, sinking down to sit on the couch. Will knelt in front of him, and Hazel squeezed in beside him. Percy and Jason leant on the back of the couch like twin guardian angels.

"Persephone had already talked to him," Nico murmured so quietly Will had to bend forward to hear him properly. "So he was calling to find out more."

Will nodded. At least Nico's father had wanted to hear Nico's side of the story.

"I explained what had been going on, and he didn't really say much. He said that he was sorry that he'd had to find out this way. That I'm gay, I mean." Nico swallowed, glancing up at Will hesitantly with a small smile. Will suddenly felt as if there was a lump the size of a fist in his throat. "He said... he said it was fine. He didn't mind. He doesn't mind me staying here, and he doesn't mind me living with you, and he doesn't mind that I'm gay." Nico's eyes were shining, his voice trembling with elation, and Will felt the lump in his throat vanish and reappear as the sting of tears in his eyes.

"Oh my god," he mumbled. "That's... that's incredible." Nico nodded, tears glistening in his own eyes.

"Group hug!" somebody yelled, and then Will's face was pressed against Nico's shoulder, his hands tangled in his hair.

"I love you," he murmured into Nico's ear. "So, so much."

"You too," Nico whispered back, squirming as their friends piled in on them. "By the way," he added, breath ghosting over Will's face, "he wants to meet you."

Will frowned nervously, but then Percy and Jason tripped over each other, sending the entire hug crashing to the floor. As the two boys were tugged up by their exasperated girlfriends, Will grinned at Nico from the middle of the chaos, and Nico grinned at him.

Later that night, when everyone was sprawled out asleep in a mess of blankets and pillows on the floor, Will felt someone take his hand gently. "Hey," he whispered.

"Hey, yourself," Nico whispered back, squeezing his hand. Will reached out and tugged him closer, pulling Nico's skinny frame against his own.

"You're still too thin," he murmured, running his hand along Nico's spine.

He could almost hear the face Nico was pulling. "Will..." He huddled closer all the same. "So are you okay with meeting my dad?"

"Yeah, of course. Little bit worried, but that's normal, right?"

Nico laughed a little. "Yeah."

Before he could say anything else, a groggy voice from Reyna's general direction muttered something along the lines of: "We love you, but_ please_ shut up."

"Goodnight," Will whispered.

Nico squeezed his hand again. "It'll be fine," he murmured. "Everything's going to be fine."

(And as it turned out, it was.)

**The End. **


End file.
